And we are supposed to be scared of that? Competition is what makes America great isnt it? By the time you could facilitate that, your costs will be up there and the hedges waning. Not likely It could be an even playing field, and with our added INTL presence thanks to NWA, our days could be brighter each year forward. The domestic flying will not get any better for you Wrong, still plenty of picking out there. Opportunities come along all the time. You just need to be patient or Airtran, and those 717s in purple and orange will look cool.(did someone say those would be dumped?)
And really, most SWA pilots were NOT happy about age 65, Wrong again, When we voted on to continue the funding of the age 65 effort by our union it passed by a good margin. and you old fellas got lucky. You just gave FOs an extra 5 years 5 more years of pay on top of what they were going to get, still a good deal. We had upgrades at our airline at 5 years when I got hired. Prior to the age 65 change it was running at 6-1/2 years. Now it may be 10-11 if everyone stays to 65 which is very unlikely. How long are the upgrades at Delta or Northwest currently? (at 5 legs a day) of lower pay than was originally advertised, which you did not have to endure yourself. But hey, now everyone can postpone paying for their kid's college, or buying a Captain house, so you can not be as bored on the golf course. Enjoy those options that you were given too. Actually the options paid for half my Captain house already. The others are still in play for quite a while longer. But Thanks for your concern! See you in ATL, you will enjoy it.
Bye Bye--General Lee
Been in and out of ATL many years ago with Midway Airlines and look forward to being back again some day. I do miss the southern cooking.